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Welcome to the daily installment of the AEW News Roundup, where we bring you the latest events around the Tony Khan-led promotion.
A WWE Hall of Famer made a very bold claim regarding emerging AEW star Jade Cargill. A top wrestler took to social media to send a message to Nikki A.S.H. following her RAW Women's Title win this week.
Britt Baker discussed how she struggled initially and how she had to develop in AEW and learn on the fly.
Another match was added to AEW Fyter Fest Night 2 match card. Lastly, a legendary wrestling figure had some positive things to say about Dustin Rhodes.
Without wasting any time, let's get right into it.
#5 Mark Henry makes a bold claim regarding AEW's Jade Cargill
Recently acquired by AEW, WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry appeared on the Background Podcast to open up on several topics.
Among them was the meteoric rise of Jade Cargill. Cargill joined AEW in 2020 as a rookie but did an admirable job in her debut feud against Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet.
Since then, she has consistently gotten better in the ring and on the mic. Cargill has the looks of a top star and is expected to be the face of the AEW women's division in the years to come.
Mark Henry made a bold claim saying that she would be comparable to Kenny Omega within three years.
The WWE Hall Of Famer also said she needed to slow down a bit as she tried one too many things and got injured in the process.
"Jade is going to be a superstar,” Henry said. “ I've told her recently, I said, ‘You’re me. You are a star, you are a celebrity.” He continued, “Without a doubt, she will do all of it, but she's going to have to get to the point where she can wake up at 4 in the morning and if somebody grabs her in a headlock, she'll know exactly what to do. In this industry, there is a lot to learn and if you want to learn it at a good clip but you don't want to learn so fast that you get injured and that's kind of the thing."
"She has tried to do things she probably shouldn't be doing yet and she has gotten injured. So we're going to slow down, work on the fundamentals, and let her evolve. It took me three years and she's been in it less than one. So the Jade Cargill that we're going to get in 3 years is going to be one of the main event players on the show. She is already ‘must-see TV,’ but we're going to be talking about her like we talked about Kenny Omega in 3 years.” (H/T: Fightful)
Jade Cargill could be one of the stars to challenge Britt Baker if she is successful in overcoming Nyla Rose this week.
#4 AEW's Tay Conti sends a heartfelt message to Nikki A.S.H.
One of AEW's rising stars, Tay Conti took to Twitter to congratulate and praise the new WWE RAW Women's Champion, Nikki A.S.H.
Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair clashed during this week's RAW main event for the title wherein Charlotte retained after getting intentionally disqualified. Ripley, enraged, attacked The Queen post-match and laid her out with a Riptide on the floor.
In a surprising turn of events, Nikki A.S.H. rushed to the ring and cashed in her Money in the Bank contract to pin Charlotte and become the WWE RAW Women's Champion for the first time in her career.
The wrestling community flooded social media with posts congratulating Nikki. Among those was former NXT star, Tay Conti. She called Nikki a real-life hero and called her an amazing person.
"She is my hero in real life and you guys doesn’t even know.. what an amazing person inside and out, Nikki is a real life hero and I can prove it !!!" said Tay Conti.
Nikki responded to the AEW star's tweet and said Conti was one of her favorite people in the world.
Nikki A.S.H's championship win was one of the best feel-good moments of 2021.
#3 Britt Baker calls AEW Dynamite her Performance Center
AEW Women's Champion Britt Baker has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of the AEW women's division.
However, when she joined AEW, Baker was quite green and had to learn the business on the fly. Speaking to the Daily Star, the Women's Champion called AEW Dynamite her Performance Center, drawing parallels to the one owned by WWE. She said a lot of what she did initially was "trial and error."
"I love the NXT women’s division and am friends with so many of those girls,” Baker said. “But they have a Performance Center. My Performance Center was AEW Dynamite, live on Wednesday nights. I was learning as we go… you train in the ring, you cut promos and practice as much as you can, but I don’t have a wrestling ring in my back yard, a television set-up or a hard cam to pan to. So, a lot of what you see on tv was just trial and error because, again, we don’t have that Performance Center." (H/T: Fightful)
Baker continued, saying the fans took a liking to her because they could see everything was new to her and she persevered to grow as a performer. The Champ believes this ultimately led her to become the face of the AEW women's division.
#2 Frankie Kazarian vs Doc Gallows announced for AEW Fyter Fest
AEW Fyter Fest Night 2 added another match as Frankie Kazarian vs Doc Gallows was announced on this week's AEW Dark: Elevation.
Frankie Kazarian defeated Baron Black on Dark: Elevation before laying out Brandon Cutler as he tried to attack him. Gallows then showed up to lay out the former SCU member. The match was announced shortly after that.
This will be Doc Gallows' first singles outing on AEW Dynamite and he'll be keen to take down The Elite Hunter who has been tormenting the villainous group and scuppering their plans.
The Good Brothers recently became IMPACT Wrestling Tag Team Champions and Doc Gallows will be hoping to carry that momentum into Wednesday's match.
Kazarian was forced to end his partnership with longtime friend and tag team partner, Christopher Daniels, after The Young Bucks defeated SCU in a stunning match on the 12th May edition of AEW Dynamite.
Since then, Kazarian has repackaged himself as The Elite Hunter, constantly showing up during The Super Elite's matches and preventing them from using any underhand tactics.
#1 Jim Ross on AEW's Dustin Rhodes is better than 98% of today's wrestlers
AEW announcer and wrestling legend Jim Ross spoke on his Grilling JR podcast and showered praise on Dustin Rhodes.
JR claimed the 50-year-old Dustin, who still performs in the ring and works as a trainer backstage with the women's division, is better than 98% of the performers in the industry today.
“He’s 50 now for god sakes and he’s better than 98% of the people working on TV every week,” Ross said. “I think he had his best days as Goldust. He owned that character and made it his. Everything else was in his dad’s image. I saw more creative happiness in Dustin than when he was Goldust, refining and getting that character together then any other time.” (H/T - WrestlingInc)
Formerly known as Goldust, Dustin Rhodes wrestled arguably the greatest match in AEW history when he took on his brother Cody Rhodes at Double or Nothing in 2019.
He's contributed to AEW in multiple ways, putting talent over and mentoring them backstage.
